Opera on the Mall Program | Opera Philadelphia

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The Barber of Seville S a t u r d a y, S e p t e m b e r 2 7 6:00 p.m. pre-show | 7:00 p.m. broadcast Independence National Historical Park Opera on the Mall is presented by PNC Arts Alive and is made possible through the generous support of the William Penn Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.

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Photos by Dominic Mercier

GET

REA D Y

f o r

l o v e

a nd

Opera on the Mall is one of my favorite

We’ve been joined by nearly 10,000 new

nights of the year. We stretch out on

friends in the three years since we began

Philadelphia’s front lawn with our dogs and

hosting this event at Independence National

our picnic baskets and enjoy some classic

Historical Park. Tonight, we are thrilled to

opera in the shadow of the Liberty Bell and

welcome you to the family. I hope you enjoy

Independence Hall.

tonight’s big-screen operatic block party, and

What could be more Philly?

Tonight, we present a free, open-air broadcast of Rossini’s classic The Barber of Seville, widely regarded as grand opera’s greatest comedy. This fresh take features a fun and talented cast of singers whose chemistry promises to jump off the giant HD screen.

l a u g h t e r Opera Philadelphia General Director David B. Devan.

Photo by Kelly & Massa

I invite you to fall in love with opera and come out to join us in our city’s great opera houses for one of the five new productions in our 40th Anniversary Season.

I want to hear from you tonight as you enjoy the broadcast. Tweet @operaphila and me, @ddevan, using #onthemall.

David B. Devan General Director & President Opera Philadelphia

y o u r g u id e t o opera on the mall

I nd e p e nd e nc e N a t i o n a l H is t o r ic a l P a r k

P e r f o r m e d i n I ta l i a n w i t h E n g l i s h s u b t i t l e s

A visit to Independence National Historical Park is an

SCHE D ULE 5:30 6:00 7:00 8:30 9:45

p.m.: p.m.: p.m.: p.m.: p.m.:

Gates open Pre-show with cast & crew interviews Performance begins Intermission (15 minutes) Performance ends

opportunity to celebrate and explore our nation’s past.

Stand in the shadow of Independence Hall or read the famous inscription on the Liberty Bell. Stop for a moment in the President’s House Site and consider the promises and paradoxes of the liberty our founders envisioned. The ideas of liberty and self-government tested here still echo

PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES

EN JOY IN G THE BROADCAST

• Laugh at the Warner Brothers classic Rabbit of Seville

•B ring your blankets and beach chairs Low-slung preferred

This national park preserves and interprets many of the

• Share your Instagram photos #onthemall with @operaphila

• Picnic dinners encouraged

of our country. Independence Hall has been recognized

• Pose for photos in the FREE photobooth

• F ood trucks on 5th Street, between Market and Chestnut

• Liberty Bell Center open until 5 p.m. Last admittance 4:50 p.m.

•D ogs must be kept on leashes at all times

through our lives today.

most important resources associated with the founding internationally as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the world-changing events that occurred inside this building.

There is so much more history to explore, from the Georgian architecture, to Peale’s Museum, to fugitive slave trials. The park's museum collection contains 2.2 million historic artifacts associated with events, people and places relevant to the park's mission. The Benjamin

Independence Visitor Center

Franklin Museum showcases the creativity, ambition, and genius of one of our greatest founding fathers. Exhibits

Market Street

at the National Constitution Center trace the impact of

President’s House Site 5th Street

6th Street

our Constitution over the

Liberty Bell Center

years.

Every visit to the park should start at the Independence Visitor Center. Learn more about Independence National Historical Park and the founding of our nation on the free

i

mobile app, NPSIndependence.

Chestnut Street

Independence Hall

ENTRANCE LOCATIONS RESTROOMS

i

scan to download

INFORMATION AND FIRST AID

PHOTOBOOTH

VIDEO SCREENS

FOOD TRUCKS go.nps.gov/independenceapp

the story of T HE B AR B ER OF S EVILLE

M A K E WAY F O R T H E GUY WHO CAN DO ANYTHING It’s bubbly, boisterous, and brilliant. It’s about disguises, trickery, tomfoolery, and a young man trying to prevent an old man from trying to marry a young woman.

The aged and greedy Dr. Bartolo is determined to marry Rosina, his beautiful young ward, so he can take hold of her inheritance. But Rosina has other plans: shhe prefers the penniless Lindoro, who has been serenading her on the sly.

However, Lindoro is actually the wealthy Count Almaviva, who hides his true title in order to find a bride who wants his love, not his money.

Who can help Almaviva whisk Rosina out from under the nose of her controlling guardian? Make way for the guy who can do anything, the brilliant Barber of Seville!

Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!

Set design by Shoko Kambara

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operaphila Broadcast Equipment provided by PRG

Meet the cast of The barber of seville

F I GARO Jonathan Beyer Baritone

RO S I N A Jennifer Holloway* Mezzo-soprano The Rabbit of Seville

a ni m a t i o n ’ s f av o r i t e o p e r A B ugs , H omer , S ponge B ob , and more have spoofed T he B arber of S e v i lle C OU N T ALMAV I VA Taylor Stayton Tenor

D O C TOR B ARTOLO Kevin Burdette Bass

Scholars and critics say The Barber of Seville is the most humorous opera in the classical repertoire. Cartoon characters seem to agree.

The music of the opera has been performed by a veritable Animation Hall of Fame, from Bugs Bunny, Homer Simpson, and Tom & Jerry to Woody Woodpecker, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Barney Rubble.

Between Barber’s famous overture and Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” aria, the music of this comic opera is deeply embedded in pop culture. When you hear those tunes tonight, chances are your favorite

DON BASILIO Wayne Tigges Bass-baritone

B ERTA Katrina Thurman* Soprano

cartoon character will pop into your head.

If you grew up watching Looney Tunes, you will no doubt recall 1949’s Rabbit of Seville, in which Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd enact their endless battle while singing along to the opera’s overture.

That same year, in Long-Haired Hare, Bugs interrupts—and later conducts—an opera singer as he performs “Largo al factotum.”

Bugs wasn’t alone in his reverence for Barber. He wasn’t even the first: five years earlier, Woody Woodpecker starred in his own Barber cartoon in which he takes over a barbershop for a day and sings

F I ORELLO Sean Plumb* Baritone

OFF I C ER Johnathan McCullough* Baritone

C REAT I VE TEAM CONDUCTOR / Corrado Rovaris DIRECTOR / Michael Shell* SET DESIGN / Shoko Kambara* COSTUME DESIGN / Amanda Seymour* LIGHTING DESIGN / Driscoll Otto* WIG & MAKE-UP DESIGN / David Zimmerman CHORUS MASTER / Elizabeth Braden Broadcast Director / Bruce Br yant *Opera Philadelphia debut P erformed in I ta l ian with E ng l ish subtit l es

New co-production with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

“Largo al factotum.” The aria also figures prominently in the Merrie Melodies classic One Froggy Evening featuring the singing Michigan J. Frog (filmmaker Steven Spielberg considers this the greatest cartoon ever made).

Tom & Jerry got into the act in 1964 with The Cat Above and The Mouse Below, in which Tom is a star baritone whose singing of “Largo al factotum” interrupts Jerry’s nap under the stage. At one point, while Tom is singing, Jerry aims a plunger at Tom’s mouth and scores a direct hit. This is not a usual occurrence in most opera houses.

More recently, The Simpsons parodied the opera world in an episode that had a Barber-influenced title, The Homer of Seville. In the episode, Homer gains operatic singing ability following an accident, and is cast as Rodolfo in a Springfield Opera House production of La bohème.

di r e c t o r ’ s n o t e s by m ich a e l sh e l l

Costume designs by Amanda Seymour

T h e B a r b e r o f S e v i l l e is a l o v e s t o r y .

It is a story of two people, Rosina and a disguised Count Almaviva, overcoming obstacles to be together. Through the help of an ingenious Barber they outwit Bartolo, Rosina’s guardian, and are united. The manner in which this story unfolds is funny, passionate, and quite frankly, totally absurd.

Rossini was a master at this type of storytelling. His music makes all of these elements come alive and makes the absurd plausible. That being said, I never really liked this opera. All of the productions I have seen, except for the 1974 John Pierre Ponelle film and a few other exceptions, are mostly displays of all the shtick and schlock habits that performers and directors have picked up during the years. For me, these productions only elicit what I call “Courtesy Laughter.” That is, laughter which is an obligatory response to cover up the pain that you feel watching something that you wish were funny, but really isn’t.

way to reach his audience, that this production was born.

When I was in college I had a professor who once told me, “Opera is a like a trip to a museum. We preserve the past. We show people a time gone by.” Now, while I love museums, there is a huge difference between visiting a building that preserves the past work of artists, and attending a live theatrical experience in which the audience is an active participant. In fact, I think this is the crux of one of our issues in trying to usher opera into the future. But I digress. This analogy brings up an interesting point. With both the museum and theatrical experience being different but equal in enjoyment, with an opera as famous as The Barber of Seville, the typical production should be as fulfilling as it is when going to a see a favorite painting at MoMA or The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Unfortunately, it is often like seeing a horrible reproduction of a Monet in a motel room. So, it is in the spirit of both the museum curator and the contemporary artist searching for a

Whether you have seen an Almodóvar film or not (and if it is the latter, I highly recommend seeing one), it is of no consequence. What you need now is an open mind. Allow yourself the treat of not needing to know anything but what is introduced to you in the moment, and what comes to you in this specific environment. Remember when you first saw a Monet on a museum wall and not in a motel room? Try to imagine you have no idea what is going to happen when the opera starts. Forget you know the tunes or any of the jokes in the libretto. In doing this, hopefully we will share my new love for this piece and discover fresh new aspects to this well-known opera. Together, we will see it as it was likely seen in that successful second performance: fresh, new, heartfelt, and pretty darn funny!

Historically, the first performance of Barber was a technical failure, and its second was a huge success. Within one week it went on to be a legitimate hit. It was my desire to create a production as fresh, new, and funny as that successful performance all those years ago. In an effort to design a world that would suit this endeavor, all the while grounding us in Spain, I turned to the films of Pedro Almodóvar which have all of the elements of a Rossini opera. Almodóvar is brilliant at walking the line between dramatic comedy and melodramatic absurdity. His films are also deeply embedded in Spain and Spanish culture. By using his films as inspiration, we are rooting ourselves in Spain and hopefully giving these characters a new depth, which ultimately reveals much more heart and humor.

D a v i d D a ni e l s a s O s c a r Ph o t o: Ke n H owa rd

LOR D Y , LOR D Y , OUR O P ERA I S 4 0 !

The exciting new production of Rossini’s

the spotlight as the comic preparations of

The World Premiere

The Barber of Seville is just the first step

the first act transform into a beautiful opera-

of Charlie Parker’s

in Opera Philadelphia’s blockbuster 40th

within-an-opera before your eyes.

YARDBIRD by

Anniversary Season. Many of opera’s greatest stars will come to Philadelphia this season for four additional all-new productions, including the company’s first World Premiere in four decades!

Next up at the Academy of Music is the East Coast Premiere of a revised version

In April, world-renowned, Philadelphia-born bass-baritone Eric Owens (left) comes home to make his role debut as King Philip II in a new production of

of Oscar by Theodore Morrison and

Verdi’s classic Don Carlo. “I am so excited

John Cox, starring the great countertenor

to come back home to Philadelphia to make

David Daniels, in his Opera Philadelphia

my role debut as King Philip,” said Owens.

debut, as Oscar Wilde. In the 2013 World

“When I get a chance to sing Verdi it seems

Premiere at The Santa Fe Opera, Daniels’s

like a homecoming for my voice. To do this

performance was hailed as “superb”

role that I have wanted to do for so long, at

and “beautiful” by The New York Times.

home, it’s just the perfect match.”

Chronicling Wilde’s trial and subsequent incarceration over a scandalous love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar marries one of literature’s most daring voices with one of music’s most singular. The result is unforgettable.

This Academy of Music production features a tremendous cast, including the Opera Philadelphia debuts of Dimitri Pittas as Don Carlo, Leah Crocetto as Elizabeth de Valois, and Michelle DeYoung as Princess Eboli. They are joined by four

In March, the talented singers from Curtis

returning favorites: baritone Troy Cook

Opera Theatre bring Richard Strauss’s

(La bohème, Silent Night) as Rodrigo;

classic Ariadne auf Naxos to the Aurora

bass Morris Robinson (Nabucco) as

Series at the Perelman Theater. In this new

the Grand Inquisitor; soprano Ashley

production, two groups of performers— a

Emerson (Powder Her Face) as Tebaldo;

brash burlesque troupe and a buttoned-up

and soprano Sarah Shafer (Ainadamar)

opera company—argue, flirt, and fight for

as the Celestial Voice.

composer Daniel Schnyder and librettist Bridgette A. Wimberly caps the season at the Perelman Theater. American tenor Lawrence Brownlee (above), who starred as Count Almaviva in a 2005 production of The Barber of Seville, stars in this chamber opera based on the life of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955), one of the most influential soloists in the history of jazz and a central figure in the development of bebop. Set after-hours in the famed New York City jazz club Birdland, the intimate opera captures Parker’s complex musical genius and troubled life in an engaging and honest way. Soprano Angela Brown costars as Charlie’s mother, Addie Parker, with baritone Will Liverman as Dizzy Gillespie.

Both Oscar and Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD are a part of the company’s American Repertoire Program, a commitment to produce at least one American work in each of ten seasons.

Learn more at OPERAPHILA.ORG

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C u r t is Op e r a Th e a t r e

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A r i a dn e A u f N a x o s M arch 4 – 8 , 2 0 1 5 P erelman T heater

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Don Carlo A pril 2 4 – M a y 3 , 2 0 1 5 A cadem y of M usic

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The Aurora Series for Chamber Opera at the Perelman Theater is underwritten by the Wyncote Foundation

o p e r a phi l a . o r g | 2 1 5 . 8 9 3 . 1 0 1 8 facebook.com/operaphila

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